Ardeth Mary Margaret Wood (October 28, 1975 – August 6, 2003) was a Canadian graduate student who was killed in a forcible drowning in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. The initial search for Wood was one of the largest search efforts in the city's history, and the two-year search for her killer was one of the largest

manhunt Manhunt may refer to: Search processes * Manhunt (law enforcement), a search for a dangerous fugitive * Manhunt (military), a search for a high-value target by special operations forces or intelligence agencies Social organisations * Manhun ...

s in Canada.

Biography

Ardeth Wood was the first daughter born to Brenden Wood and Catherine Ashley on October 28, 1975, in Saint John, New Brunswick. Wood spent most of her life in

, where she graduated from

Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School (LBP) is an Ottawa Catholic School Board high school. It is located in the neighbourhood of Beacon Hill, Ottawa, Beacon Hill in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Academic program LBP offers a variety in ...

in 1994 and studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and history at Carleton University. After earning a B.A. in 1999 and an M.A. in 2001, she began pursuing a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

at the University of Waterloo. There, Wood was recognized as an exceptional student and was co-editor of ''Eidos: The Canadian Graduate Journal of Philosophy''.

Murder

In the summer of 2003, Wood was on leave from her doctoral studies and was visiting her family in

. She was last seen on August 6 riding her

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

on a path along the Rockcliffe Parkway in the city's east end. News of her disappearance was reported widely in Canada, and the entire city of Ottawa rallied around a search effort that involved the police, the military and hundreds of volunteers. Her body was found in the woods around Green's Creek on August 11. Her clothes were never found and no foreign DNA was found on her body. Ottawa police received many tips that a man on a bicycle was seen luring women into the woods along the path where Wood was last seen. A composite sketch of the murder suspect was compiled soon thereafter, and was widely distributed across Canada. On October 20, 2005, police arrested 25-year-old Chris Myers near

Renfrew Renfrew (; sco, Renfrew; gd, Rinn Friù) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former ...

. Myers had been previously charged with assaults in Ottawa and North Bay. Staff Sgt. Randy Wisker led the investigation into Wood's murder, and relied on a loose collection of tips prior to the arrest. On January 8, 2008, Myers pleaded guilty to Ardeth Wood's murder as well as five unrelated assaults. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for ten years. Myers was denied parole in 2020.

Aftermath

Carleton University and University of Waterloo both established scholarships in Wood's name. A 109-year-old Bebb's oak tree in Ottawa's

Dominion Arboretum The Dominion Arboretum (french: Arboretum du Dominion) is an arboretum part of the Central Experimental Farm of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Originally begun in 1889, the Arboretum covers about of rolling land ...

was dedicated to Wood in 2007. The tree was split in half by a violent windstorm on September 27, 2017. Wood's murder case was featured in a 2010 episode of ''Murder She Solved'' entitled "The Pathway Predator".

References

External links

Analysis of the arrest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Ardeth 1975 births 2000s missing person cases 2003 deaths Canadian murder victims Crime in Ottawa Deaths by drowning in Canada Deaths by person in Canada Female murder victims Formerly missing people Kidnapped Canadian people Missing person cases in Canada Murdered students People from Saint John, New Brunswick People murdered in Ontario Violence against women in Ontario

Biography

Murder

Aftermath

See also

References

External links